Laminated container, especially coffin



E. SCHNEIDER 3,367,004

LAMINATED CONTAINER, ESPECIALLY COFFIN 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 6, 1968 Filed July 1. 1964 27 9; 24a 5 v {5 J? 2 1 ki 1 l g a ,g /3

AWE/V727? Feb. 6, 1968 E. SCHNEIDER 3,367,004

LAMINATED CONTAINER, ESPECIALLY COFFIN Filed July 1, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ji ll United States Patent Ofifice 3,367,004 Patented Feb. 6, 1968 3,367,004 LAMINATED CONTAINER, ESPECIALLY COFFIN Erich Schneider, 4 Gruner Weg, 5248 Wissen (Sei'g), Germany Filed Jnly 1, 1964, Ser. No. 379,544 Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 4, 1963, Sch 33,956 8 Claims. (Cl. 27-3) The present invention relates to a container, especially coffin, of synthetic material. Various synthetic materials have the property that as a rule they are extremely resistant against attacks by moisture and various chemicals. This property which in numerous cases is considered rather favorable has a disadvantageous effect when containers or articles are involved which should disintegrate after a certain period of time. Thus, for instance, boxes, crates, containers, and the like, which serve for transporting goods and after having served this purpose have to be destroyed, frequently present a problem with regard to their quick disposal.

With cofiins it is generally required that they disintegrate within a period of from ten to fifteen years, and it is for this reason that even at present most cofiins are made of wood. On the other hand, since wood is relatively expensive it would be desirable to make such coffins of a synthetic material which on one hand has sufiicient strength in order to resist the pressure of the earth resting thereon but on the other hand would disintegrate within the required period of time.

It is, therefor, an object of the present invention to provide a synthetic material which will meet the abovementioned requirements.

It is also an object of this invention to provide containers, as for instance cofiins, of a synthetic material which will disintegrate within a desired period of time.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a coifin made of a material according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section taken through the foot portion of the coffin of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section similar to that of FIG. 2 through a modified foot section of a coflin.

The material according to the present invention is I characterizedprimarily in that a synthetic material is used with a filling having incorporated therein a substance which under the influence of moisture disintegrates quickly. This filling or filling material should not contain any material amount of glass or asbestos.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 illustrates a cofiin of the customary shape. The coflin comprises a bottom portion 10 and a lid portion 20. The bottom portion 10 is composed .of a bottom 1 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and four side walls 4 which together form a trough. The said bottom 1 and walls 4 are, in conformity with the present invention, produced of a synthetic material and a filling material which latter has added thereto a disintegrating substance. Particularly suitable for the purpose of the present invention is a filling of paper or cardboard and of organic (non-synthetic) glue. It has been found according to the present invention that the filling material disintegrates in the presence of ordinary kitchen salt (NaCl) which is inexpensive and available in unlimited quantities. The effect will be increased when instead of pure kitchen salt a mixture of two parts of NaCl and one part of sodiumtetra-borate (Na B O plus 1O'H O) is admixed to the filling material. An addition of two grams of this mixture to each 100 cubic centimeters of filling material will be sufiicient, under the influence of moisture, to disintegrate a cofiin or synthetic material within a few years to such an extent that it will collapse. With containers which serve for packing and shipping goods and which are discarded thereafter, it is advantageous to increase the addition of the disintegrating material.

'In most burial grounds, the soil surrounding the cofiin contains suflicient moisture to bring about the disintegration of the filling material. Also the disintegration of the corpse adds to the moisture. If the filling material were subjected from the very start to the full elfect of the said moisture, the coffin would be destroyed within a short time andthe uppermost soil layer would sink in. In order to prevent such situation, according to a further feature of the present invention, both cofiin sections are covered onthe inside and outside with a foil of moisture-resistant synthetic material. More specifically, with regard to the drawing, the coffin bottom 1 and the walls 4 are covered on the inside with a foil 11 and 14 respectively of such moisture-resistant synthetic material, and similarly also the outsides of these parts are covered with a corresponding foil 21, 24.

If it is desired that the coflin be maintained as long aspossible in its original shape, the protective foils are made without interruption therein whereby the moisture is prevented from reaching the salt in the filling material thereby delaying the disintegration of the cofiin. With cofiins which are intended to disintegrate after a few years, the gradual disintegration is initiated by providing perforations 24a or porous sections in the bottom portion of the cofiin (as shown in FIG. 2), i.e. in the synthetic foils covering the same. Similar perforations may be provided in the lid portion of the cofiin. In this way the moisture can pass through said perforations or porous sections .and reach the interior and thus the filling mate'- rial. By correspondingly selecting the size and number of such .porous sections or perforations and by correspondingly selecting the proportion of the disintegrating substance to the filling material, it is possible to affect the time of disintegration.

If desired, it is also possible to mount some of the synthetic foil sections in such a way that they can-be withdrawn without tools prior to the burying of the coflin so that the moisture will find access through the filling material. This is shown in FIG. 3, in which a portion 11a (in dash lines) of the outer foil is shown as being lifted off from .the adjacent portion of the bottom 1.

According to a specific and simple feature, access of moisture to the filling material will be assured by connecting the foot or leg portions to the coffin bottomby wooden screws which under the effect of the soil moisture will disintegrate relatively fast and will then open up a path through which the moisture reaches the filling material. Similar screws could also be arranged in the lid portion of the cofiin.

More specifically, with regard to FIG. 2, the foot 2 is connected'to the coffin-bottom by means of two wooden screws 5, 15. The bottom side of foot 2 is provided with two recesses 3, 13 for receiving the wooden screw heads 6, :16 respectively. The upper end of the screws extends through the bottom 1, and the screws are secured in their position by wooden nuts 7, 17.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, .the foot 2 is connected to the bottom 1 by means of a wooden screw 8 having a head 6 in a recess 3 and having its upper end in threaded engagement with a flat nut 9 which is inserted in the bottom 1 and if desired may be connected thereto by cementing, glueing, or the like.

The 'cofiin lid is similar to the bottom built up of three layers, namely the inner and outer foil of synthetic material and the filling material therebetween. It is, of course, to be understood that instead of wooden screws also wooden bolts may be provided and may be arranged where they will be unobvious.

When containers are made of the material according to the present invention and are intended to disintegrate quickly, it is merely necessary to see .to it that the container comprises a number of porous sections at 25 which when opening the container will be opened up thereby immediately admitting the moisture of the air to the filling material and thus quickly starting the disintegration of the container. It is self explanatory that containers of this type should be used only for goods which will'be removed from the containers soon after the delivery.

There will now be set forth a specific example of a material according to the present invention.

As starting material there are employed cardboard layers glued together by natural glue (non-synthetic glue). This cardboard is permeated with salt (NaCl) and forms the so-called filling material. The lower limit for coffins when employing pure salt is about 2 grams of salt per 100 cubic centimeters of filling material. The upper limit is about grams of salt for 100 cubic centimeters of filling material.

The thus prepared cardboard plates or layers are then pressed to shape while at the same time their inside and outside is coated with a coat or layer of a polyester. More specifically, to this end the mold is pre-heated to approximately 60 C. and is sprayed on the inside with polyester. The cardboard plates or layers prepared in the above-mentioned manner are then inserted and pressed under a pressure of approximately 500 tons. After approximately 3 minutes the press ram is withdrawn and the inside of the pressed article is sprayed with a polyester and the pressing operation is repeated. After a further three minutes, the pressing has been completed and the pressed articles may be removed from the mold.

With a colfin produced in this way, the filling material only will disintegrate, whereas the polyester cover or coating will remain as a thin skin which will collapse after the disintegration of the filling material under the weight of the soil thereabove.

For bringing about that also the polyester cover will disintegrate, a mixture of salt (NaCl) and sodiumtetraborate (Na B O plus IOH O) is added to the filling material. The ratio of sodium chloride to sodium tetraborate may vary from 4:1 to 1: 1.

As a lower limit in this instance two grams of salt plus sodiumtetraborate per 100 cubic centimeters of filling material plus polyester will be employed. The upper limit is about 50 grams of salt plus sodiumtetraborate per 100 cubic centimeters of filling material plus polyester cover. The manufacturing process will be the same as described above- The amount of the disintegrating, material to be added to the filling material may, of course, vary according to the circumstances and will be dependent on the desired period of time within which the disintegration should take place. The greater the amount of salt or the amount of salt and sodiumtetraborate which is added to the filling material, the shorter will be the period in which disinte-v gration takes place.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular material and articles set forth above but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

As mentioned above, it would also be possible to mount a portion of the moisture resistant synthetic foil in such a way that it can easily manually be withdrawn. This may be effected by gluing a thin foil of polyvinylchloride (PVC) to a part of the surface, preformed before with some perforations reaching the filling material with a non-hardening glue e.g. a glue that remains wet for a long time.

What I claim is:

1. A container, especially a cofiin, having a bottom wall, side walls, and a top wall, in which each of said walls comprises two spaced layers of moisture resistant synthetic material, and a filling substance of paper material permeated with sodium chloride and arranged be tween said two layers, at least a portion of at least one of said layers having means adapted to permit the access of moisture to the respective adjacent filling substance.

2. A container, especially a cotfin, according to claim 1, in which said two spaced layers of moisture resistant synthetic material of said walls are selected from a polyester, and in which said paper material includes pressed cardboard.

3. A container according to claim 2, in which the ratio of sodium chloride to cardboard is within the range of from 2 grams of sodium chloride percubic centimeters of pressed cardboard to 5 grams of sodium chloride per 100 cubic centimeters of pressed cardboard.

4. A container, especially a coffin, according to claim 1, in which said filling substance is additionally permeated with sodium tetraborate.

5. A container according to claim 4, in which the ratio of sodium chloride plus sodium tetraborate to pressed cardboard is within the range of from 2 grams of sodium chloride plus sodium tetra'borate per 100 cubic centimeters of pressed cardboard to 50 grams of sodium chloride plus sodium tetraborate per 100 cubic centimeters of pressed cardboard.

6. A container, especially a cofiin, according to claim 1, in which for purposes of permitting the access of moisture to the respective adjacent filling substance said means comprises at least one of said layers of moisture resistant synthetic material which layer is provided with perforations.

7. A container, especially a coflin, according to claim 1, in which for purposes of permitting the access of moisture to the respective adjacent filling substance said means comprises at least a portion of at least one of said layers of moisture resistant synthetic material which portion is manually easily detachable.

8. A container, especially a cofiin, having a bottom wall, side walls, a top wall, and supporting leg means for supporting said bottom wall, in which each of said walls comprises two spaced layers of moisture resistant synthetic material selected from a polyester, a filling substance interposed between said layers and comprising pressed cardboard material permeated with sodium chloride, and wooden connecting means connecting said leg means to said layers and extending through at least one of said layers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 466,358 1/1892 Mueller et a1. 27--7 2,567,706 9/1951 Hannum et al. 229-3.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 857,739 1/ 1961 Great Britain.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Prima y Examiner,

W. E. KAMM, Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER, ESPECIALLY A COFFIN, HAVING A BOTTOM WALL, SIDE WALLS, AND A TOP WALL, IN WHICH EACH OF SAID WALLS COMPRISES TWO SPACED LAYERS OF MOISTURE RESISTANT SYNTHETIC MATERIAL, AND A FILLING SUBSTANCE OF PAPER MATERIAL PERMEATED WITH SODIUM CHLORIDE AND ARRANGED BETWEEN SAID TWO LAYERS, AT LEAST A PORTION OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID LAYERS HAVING MEANS ADAPTED TO PERMIT THE ACCESS OF MOISTURE TO THE RESPECTIVE ADJACENT FILLING SUBSTANCE. 